Initiate Mysticism ~ HyRune Raven

[Seraphim]

Dominique heard tapping on his door and hurried across the length of his room to open it, to be greeted by his new pupil.

"Serale, HyRune. I have been expecting you. Please have a seat."

Dominique led the blind man across to sit on the floor, as there were barely any furnitures in the room at all.

"Now, do tell me why you want to learn about Mysticism and what you know already about it."

Of course, Dom could already discern his reasons, but he wanted the man to speak for himself.

[HyRune Raven]

HyRune was no fool. He was quite aware that, if rumor was to be believed, Dominique had the ability to read his mind. This was not the talent that had inspired him to become a Mystic, but he knew that it was one of the things that those versed in the discipline could do--and if Dominique was teaching it, he was most certainly very well-versed.

"Undoubtedly you know my answer before I say it," HyRune said with his usual calm smile, "But since you asked anyway, I will answer anyway. The recent merfolk invasion has alerted me to a sense of my own mortality. It has finally occurred to me that I might just not live forever after all, and since I have quite an attachment to being alive, I decided that it was time I did something about protecting that status. Hence, arcana. I chose Mysticism as my discipline because it has a strong focus on awareness, detection, and knowledge of the people and places around the Mystic--with my particular disability, this happens to be a natural weakness and so I chose the arcane craft that would most make up for it. My blindness is permanent--no thaumaturgist can cure it, no matter how skilled. My willingness to be helpless against it is...not as permanent."

[Minerva]

Domenique nodded sagely to herself as HyRune voiced his answer. Of course, he would not be able to see the solemn gesture for himself, thanks to his disability. His words, however, did work to touch the woman, and the look of empathy in her eyes belied the fact that she would be more than willing to teach this new student. She had not, however, undergone any prior experience in teaching one lacking the ability to see before, and this would prove to be something new for her, as well as for her student.

"Admirable reasons, HyRune. Now, shall we begin? I'll start by giving you some information about arcana, and then I'll unbind you, alright? Now, you know that this plane that we live on is the Plane of the Material, don't you? Of course you do. Well, did you also know that there are other, different planes? Arcanic and essence planes, for instance? Sometimes these planes intersect each other, meaning that transplanar activities can occur. The essence planes flow with the arcanic energies needed for casting spells, and you, as a mage, will need to use these energies in order to cast any spells."

"Now, most people can't see these energies. This is because all creatures capable of thought are born bound, oblivious to the wonderful arcane energies about and within them, and so unable to cast spells of any kind. Now, I am going to relieve this mental restraint from you in order for us to continue with the lessons, alright? You might feel a little queazy or the like for a moment, but, after that feeling's passed, you should find yourself aware of the arcane energies around you. After this, I will teach you about these energies, and we'll start working on creating and casting some spells, alright?"

Reaching out towards him, Domenique laid one hand gently on HyRune's shoulder, the movement mostly as a final precaution to make sure the blind man knew that she was about to initiate the Unbinding. The process itself took but a scant moment, and within no time at all a strange and alien feeling presented itself and began to wrap itself about HyRune's form, flooding his senses as he did so. Despite the fact that he was blind, he would still be able to, in a sense, see the arcana energies flowing in gentle streams about him.

"Well, that's it. I've unbound you. Now, if you would, HyRune, please, tell me what you see. I'd be very interested to know, before we move on."

[HyRune Raven]

ooc: Bet you're getting sick of me Min . But good to see you as always . I dunno if Seraphim is on vacation or whatever but HyRune is also supposed to do at least one sculpture for the Academy, part of his payment for lessons. Seraphim was going to start a thread where the head of the Academy or some other official was going to tell him what to sculpt, give him the material, and have him get to work. Dunno if you want to wait til he gets back or run it now, just making you aware. Sorry for this long ooc...oh but one more thing, do we still do the thing where I can post whatever I want as my character's "unbinding" hallucinations/flashbacks? Hope so, cuz thats what I'm doing...

ic: The future Mystic nodded as he listened carefully to all of Dominique's words. He knew virutally nothing of the unbinding process, only that it was performed on new mages of every discipline. He had no idea what would happen next.

He felt Dominique's hand on his shoulder and...

...stood in a vast chamber before a vaunted window overlooking the sea. HyRune Braska shifted his feet, his brows furrowing moodily. Nothing had gone according to plan. Grimly he watched the waves lap against the shore, his brown eyes dark with disappointment and anger at how everything had turned out.

A knock came on the High Councilor's bedroom door, and HyRune turned to face it, his heart pounding as it did at every knock these days. "Come in," he called, instinctively reaching for the curved knife at his belt. Not that it would do him any good should they decide to--

The door opened and a richly-dressed woman entered, beautiful for her fifty years, looking only half of them. Her bearing was regal, but her manner was urgent, desperate. HyRune's hand relaxed and left the hilt of his knife when he saw her, but before he could say anything, she spoke first.

"High Councilor Brastar," she said, "I come to bring you a warning--you must leave this place. My son has vowed to get rid of you once and for all. Even now, officials are drawing up your arrest papers on charges of high treason. This battle is lost. It is time for the allies of the old king to go into hiding and return at a safer time."

"A safer time?" HyRune responded, his mouth twisted bitterly. "When will there be a safer time, Queen-Mother? Your son will return this kingdom to the tyrannical days that ruled it before your wise husband took the throne. Almost, we would have had a government chosen by the people and not by blood. Almost. I fear this kingdom will be full of darkness long past my own days, and the days of my children, and those of my children's children."

The Queen-Mother looked nervously over her shoulder. "You waste time talking when you should be escaping your peril--" she began.

"Escape to where?" was his instance, interrupting response. HyRune's brown eyes flashed. "Where can I run to, that your son's hand would not reach? Wherever I go in the world, the King's Guard will find me. They will give me a mock trial that I have no chance of winning, and my reward for all my good works will be the punishment of a traitor--eyes burned out with an aralance, followed by a hanging." His voice cracked slightly as he spoke of his own graphic doom.

"In this world, true," the Queen responded. "But I have another plan..."

...HyRune gasped as the vision faded from his sight--his sight! For a few precious moments, he'd been able to see again, and then it was ripped away from him! The memory was a painful one, but nevertheless, he had forgotten how wonderful it was to be able to see.

Through the turmoil of his own well-hidden emotions, through the mask of his neutral features, HyRune heard his trainer ask complacently what he'd seen.

"I'd...rather not say," he responded, his jaw clenching between words. Though he kept his face carefully neutral, it was very apparent that he was not willing to talk about what he'd seen. "And though I cannot stop you, I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from reading my mind on this matter."

Just to be certain, the blind man wiped the memory clean, refused to think about it consciously, and it was only when he did this that he suddenly became aware of the streams of ara and vis around him. Somehow he knew that was what they were, though he could not for the life of him explain how he was aware of them to one bound. It wasn't sight or sound or smell, it was something completely new and different, a sense he'd never had before.

[Minerva]

Domenique looked at her student blankly as he responded to her question. It was not the answer she had expected from her student, certainly, but then, she supposed he was entitled to his own sense of privacy, and perhaps those sensations he had experienced during the process of the unbinding were simply not meant to be voiced and heard by her ears. Blinking once, her features settled themselves into a more amiable and relaxed expression once more, a bland smile mounted upon her face as she regarded her student once again.

"If you truly have no wish to tell me, HyRune, I won't pursue it any further. I was just a little curious, that's all. Now, shall we continue?"

Clasping her hands together and placing them gently on her lap, the mystic partook of a deep, calming intake of breath before speaking once again, her tones ones of quiet and commanding authority, and one which would not stand for being interrupted or disturbed as it voiced what it needed to.

"You are aware of the streams of arcane energies about you, are you not? These energies flowing about you, the energies surrounding you at this very moment, these are known as ara. What you may not know is that the energy that flows within and around all living things also resides within us, in the form of vis. In order to cast a spell, these forces of ara and vis must be intertwined and linked in something known as an arcane weave. In order to create this, the mage should channel his or her vis into the surrounding forces of ara, and then they can weave and shape the spell into the desired form. "

"Of course, in order to start doing all of this, you fist need to be in the proper state. This state is a meditative one known as clara, and, seeing as you're new to arcana, will take a while for you to obtain. As such, don't be too disappointed if you don't attain it first time around, alright?"

"There are different ways in which mages strive to attain clara; deep breathing, incense burning, closing off each of their sense one by one until they are left with the one which can detect and locate the arcana around them. I would like you to try to achieve this state now, HyRune. Try to achieve clara. No rush, now."

Relaxing her stance somewhat, the tutor's gaze softened as she waited patiently for her pupil to begin working at attaining the meditative state required to further progress in his lessons.

OOC: Ah, I could never get sick of you, hun. I'll strat up a seperate thread for the sculpture when I get the time.

[HyRune Raven]

"Thank you," HyRune said in response to Domenique's willingness not to pry. His past was not something he'd expected to come up here, of all places. He managed his usual calm smile and refused to think of the experience further.

"Clara," he said after Domenique finished her instructions, "Yes, I have heard of it before. I shall do my best." Carefully, he blanked his mind. This was not an easy task for the blind man, who posessed an active, curious brain that was constantly striving to solve the puzzles inherent in the world around him, but though difficult it was also possible--that same mind could also be extremely focused at times, and this was a time when he needed to focus on absolute nothingness. Reaching out with his senses, he allowed his mind to drift in blankness and just feel the environment around him and within him--ara, vis, and everything.

[Minerva]

Nudging thoughts provoked and teased him, and yet still, slowly, HyRune managed block off his senses one by one, and to shut off all interference from things such as baiting and harrassing notions which threatened to disrupt him on the path to meditation. Of course, it took him a frustratingly long time to ascertain the state of clara, and the state did not come to him on his first attempt.

Still, in the end, he had been successfully at obtaining it, and was soon able to see with his mind’s eye the reams and strings of arcane energies flitting about him. The sight of these energies were, apparently, different for each individual within each sphere of arcana, and how HyRune saw them was likely to be completely different to how his own teacher may have visualised them.

”Well done, HyRune. You have now entered clara, and we can begin working on creating and casting a spell. Remember what I told you? The ara around you and the vis within need to be merged together to create an arcalysis, and then we can work on making a specific spell from there. We’ll start off nice and easy, and try making a Psionic Orb first, alright?”

Despite the fact that he could hear her voice clearly, the genial yet instructive tones did not do anything in the way of hindering his concentration or distracting him, and he found that he could quite easily maintain a firm hold on his meditation whilst at the same time listening to every concise word Domenique said.

“Now, you see those streams of ara around you? You have to pull them towards you, lure them towards you with your own vis, if you will. Try not to force it too much, and just relax. When you’ve done that, try channelling and pouring some of your vis into the ara, allow them to mix and intertwine. Then , with your mind, sculpt this new ara-vis mix into a spherical shape. You understand? You’ll then have to pull the newly made orb back ito the Plane of the Material, but that will come later. For now, just work at creating the arcalysis, alright?”

Her words ebbed, then, as Domenique fell into silence, waiting in anticipation for her newest student to work at what she had just instructed him to do.

[Seraphim]

(OOC: Refer to Min's post... Silly me, posting after hers.)

[HyRune Raven]

ooc: So you're back . Thought were bailing out on us all

HyRune concentrated on following the instructions he'd been given, sensing the ara and trying to use his fledgling vis to pull it to him, shaping it with his mind much as he shaped stone with his chisel, trying to form a sphere as Dominique had required. When the mage asked him how he thought he'd done, the blind man pursed his lips. "Hard to tell..." he said at last. "I know I managed to bring the ara to me, and I can feel it in my hand...did I succeed in making the sphere?"

[Minerva]

OOC: Just to avoid any confusion here, I am now taking over this thread for the remainder of its duration.

“If you can feel it in your hand, in this Plane of the Material, you know you have succeeded, HyRune. What you hold now is a psionic orb, and a nicely made one at that. Try hurling these at any of your enemies to give them a nice surprise.”

A smile graced Domenique’s features as she spoke that string of words, considering her student once more as she wondered what task she should challenge him with next. He seemed to have potential, granted, especially seeing as he had been able to weave the spell to a degree of adequacy on his first attempt.

“Let’s try the Awareness spell, shall we? This spell is usually used to detect illusions and to shatter them, although it can also be used to broaden your perceptions of your surrounding and to detect any magical or metaphysical activities. It should be interesting to see how you detect these, given your...ah...handicap.”

“As with all spells, you should first work at weaving the arcana energies of ara and vis together and proceed from there. How you work the spell is entirely up to you, and you will probably cast it in a different manner to most people. Some use the arcane weave as a sort of visor before their eyes, allowing them to view the plane of the Material in a different way entirely. For you, I’m not entirely sure whether or not this would work, but it would be interesting to give it a try, to say the least.”

A look of quiet consternation shaded the Mystics face as she watched HyRune with an unspoken curiosity. The fact that she was incredibly intersted in how HyRune’s next spell would turn out was no secret, to be sure. Indeed, she was not even fully certain as to whether or not it would truly work. Still, she did not see any reason why this student should receive any different treatment to others she had taught just because of the fact that he could not see, and the man did see, to have potential. Folding her hands across her laps in idle consideration, Domenique focussed the orbs of her eyes on HyRune’s unseeing ones, patiently waiting for him to make his first attempt at casting the spell.

[HyRune Raven]

Dominique's words came to him from outside the mental bubble that encompassed his meditative state of clara.

HyRune nodded. It had been what he'd heard of spells like these--indeed, this spell, in particular--that had inspired him to choose Mysticism as his arcane discipline. Would Awareness make up entirely for his blindness? Assuredly not, for it took time to reach a state of clara in the first place, and the physically draining nature of magic made it impossible for him to walk around with any spell constantly active. But perhaps the spell would provide him with enough knowledge of his surroundings that he could cast it now and then to gain a temporary mental image of what it all looked like--most importantly, with this spell he would not be so helpless should he ever be attacked by...HyRune cut off that train of thought, choosing instead to focus on mastering the new spell.

Allowing the orb in his hand to dissipate, HyRune concentrated once again on the ara around him, drawing it to his own vis. This time, when he had meshed the two together, he channeled it outward from himself, allowing it to shoot forth invisibly in all directions and bounce back to him upon its encounters with matter. He had heard a theory once that eyesight worked in a similar manner--light reflecting from objects and hitting the interior of the eye, where it could be interpreted by the brain. Such a theory was preposterous, of course--so far-fetched as to be absolutely unbelievable, in fact--but it did provide HyRune with a model for how he could "see" around him with ara and vis. In this way, he would also be able to pentrate illusions--the spell's primary purpose.

ooc: I guess you can disregard Talespinner's remarks in your coord thread now. Dang cool guy, that Talespinner. Everybody ought to be more like him...

[Minerva]

The spell appeared to work as magic permeated his dormant sense of seeing, washing over him like the silken veil of a reassuringly expensive swath of material. Opening the physical ‘eyes’ of his being to the Plane of the Material once more, and reverting to the sightless orbs of his eyes revealed something very peculiar. The spell had been cast, and appeared to have been a success, a trait that further pronounced itself as HyRune looked about him. Whereas before he would have been completely oblivious to the world around him and its components, now he was able to see the undulating patterns, the writhing, flitting forms of ara that drifted lithely about his surroundings in only a marginally fixed place, constantly shifting representations of the forms from which they emanated from. The rigid surface of the floor was shrouded in a thinly spread sheet of arcane energies, a sheet that grew even more insipid once it touched the walls. What was quite astonishing, however, was the vicinity in which Domenique herself stood. Floating nonchalantly about her and within like some ethereal aura was the form of her vis, an energy that shifted incessantly, masking the outline of her figure at one moment, before retreating in on itself come the next. Whilst not like truly ‘seeing’ in the visual, physical sense, it was still a vast improvement on the bleakness which the blind man had grown accustomed to. It was also a very mentally draining process, and it would not be long before the spell would dissipate in response to the drain on HyRune’s energies.

Still, the feat of being able to detect illusions by way of seeing the weaves of arcana bound together in order to create them held a much greater use for the sculpture rather than merely being able to detect any falseries about him. With this spell, he could ‘see’ again, if in a slightly more unconventional manner.

“I take it that worked, then.” It was a statement, rather than a question, and one that held a tinge of amusement to its tones. “Would you like to tell me what you saw this time, HyRune?

Of course, she had not forgotten his disinclination to answer her previous question as to what her student had seen immediately after being unbound.

[HyRune Raven]

HyRune's brow furrowed as he released the mental forces that held the spell intact. No need to exhaust himself, now that he knew how to cast it. "It's interesting," he said emotionlessly, "I was able to perceive the world around me almost as well as if I could see it. I beheld the floor, ceiling, walls, and furniture in terms of their ara. It should definitely compensate for my blindness when cast. Your vis was especially intriguing--it shifts and changes, like water. I am curious--is everyone's vis like that?"

HyRune waited for the response, as well as the challenge for the next spell. In spite of his tiredness, he also felt a growing sense of power, of control. No longer would he be so helpless.

[Minerva]

Domenique smiled encouragingly. Whatever her student had seen, whatever wonders he may have witnessed following the success of her spell, he really seemed to be doing an adamant job at not showing it. His tone was expressionless, almost nonchalant as he spoke to her, and, even though this did not really concern her as such, it did amuse her in the slightest possible way. Grinning inwardly, she mentally categorised him as the more aloof type of person. Not that he would know this, of course. In his presence, her thoughts were quite safe and secure.

“What is seen may differ slightly from person to person, HyRune, but in your case...Maybe it means something in regards to the person’s characteristics and whatnot. That would be helpful to you, wouldn’t it? I’d probably suggest trying the spell out in the company of other people, see what happens then, and note any differences.”

Her student seemed a little tired, and Domenique had no wish to push him too hard. Still, maybe he had enough strength to attempt one more bout of arcana…

“One more spell for this brightening then, HyRune, and then you should get some rest, alright? Now, the last spell for today will be...Ah, yes, Reveal.”

“This spell will allow you to read something of the thoughts of others. Emotions and feelings, HyRune. These will become clearer and more vivid as you increase in level and proficiency, but for now, we will merely set you on the road to casting the spell successfully.”

“Now, unlike the spells that you have cast before, this one will need to involve the mind of your target. How you want to go about creating this spell is up to you. It may be easier for you to create a simple orb once again using the arcane weave, and simply siphon thoughts from your target’s mind, bringing them back into your own.”

Silencing herself, Domenique patiently waited for her student to either give the new spell a go, ask her a question, or simply pass out from sheer exhaustion.

[HyRune Raven]

In spite of his considerable tiredness, HyRune was not likely to pass out--nor did he have any questions. He nodded grimly and focused once more on the ara he perceived around him. Summoning it to him as he had with the last two spells, the blind man sent probing tendrils of it to Domenique, reaching out gingerly to feel the vis that he could sense around her mind. Brushing the vis with this arcane power, HyRune brought the ara back to himself. The technique was fairly similar to that which he'd used to cast Awareness, only now it was Domenique's mind that he was searching, not the physical environment surrounding him. Focusing on the returned energies, HyRune attempted to read the thoughts and emotions of his trainer.